Looking For Virus Protection?

For what it's worth...

Published on March 1, 2006 By PoSmedley In Industry

I've seen a few posts on and off topic when it comes to anti-virus protection. It can be a touchy subject for a lot of people due to poor customer experience when it comes to 'paid-for software' and just finding one that will do the job without 'messing' with their computer. Sometimes, 'uninstalling' an anti-virus' program in itself can be frustrating.

I have often put my two cents in and have been an advocate for Avast. I'll tell you why.
1. It's free. Like Adaware, you can run a free version or upgrade to the paid PRO version.
2. Unlike some other free programs, it covers all the bases. It works on P2P, email,messenger and everything else you would want it to.
3. It updates frequently, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. (That is, if you choose to run the automatic updates)
4. It does a 'boot-time' scan.
5. It's skinnable! (Like WinAmp or some other Apps, you can make skins for it or download skins.)

I switched to AVAST after going through Norton, MacAfee, and AVG. My particular problem was running across viruses that the one would detect and not the other. Or one 'mistaking' the wrong file for a virus. Or..one finding a virus but not being able to remove it. I bit the bullet and tried AVAST and have had NONE of those problems since. I deleted my 'paid-for' version of Norton and have been running AVAST for the past 7 months with NO problems. To the best of my knowledge, it has caught everything that has tried to get on my PC. It woks great with Limewire, messenger, and my email.

Some 'reader' reviews on CNET say it is a system hog, has slowed down this and that. When I installed it, my PC only had 256mb of 'shared' memory and it didn't affect my PC's performance at all, with the exception of the automatic updates. When they occured, things would lag a 'little', but not enough for me to turn off the automatic updates.

AVAST does require that you register even the free version. No fee involved. Again, some people seemed to have a problem with this at CNET. Basically, because they thought it was just 'inconvenient'. And, again, I did register and have suffered no problems because of it.

For me, this App has worked better than NOrton, AVG, and MacAfee. I have had absolutley no problems. The ONLY software conflict has been with ZoneAlarm. If you have it installed, AVAST will detect it on install and give you the option to shut off the AVAST setting that conflicts, leaving your ZoneAlarm just as it is and NOT affecting AVSTS performance!

So why am I going on about this. AVAST, for what it's worth, has just won SC MAGAZINES READER CHOICE AWARD 2006 for best ANTI_VIRUS Program. So if your looking for a new or better anti-virus program, this may be the one to check out.

AVAST wins award>Link

SC MAGAZINE AWARD WINNERS>Link

Comments (Page 1)

iTZKooPA

on Mar 01, 2006

AVG Anti-virus is also a nice anti-virus program and unlike Norton it won't rape your system

Jeff T

on Mar 01, 2006

I have used Avast! for quite awhile and have been very pleased with it.

Hippie

on Mar 01, 2006

I've been using AVG for 3-4 years. Never had a problem, and it updates 2-3 times a day.

WeatherBound

on Mar 01, 2006

I have been using Avast for two years. Now I switched to Avg.
Reason being that Avast found a virus and would not let me do anything with it, It would not let me move it to the valt,delet it or fix it. So thats when I tried AVG.

Now having said that Avg did not pick up on the virus at first, It took about a week and then it found it. Virus is now gone.

So I beleave that Avast and Avg has some bugs in detecting viruses. But will in time find them. Both are free

and work.

Double Zero

on Mar 01, 2006

AVG Is great, but being "man-made" is not at all fool proof...
I use AVG exclusively but I also use an assortment of other AV software,
1.Avast
2.Mcafee Stinger
3.Trend Microclean

All decent programs but not perfect..

I have heard of one thats so far seems to be perfect so far NOD32, I have never tried the program but I have heard nothing but great reviews....

So theres a few out there, but do not trust just one...

c242

on Mar 02, 2006

Note : MCAfee Stinger is in no event a full antivirus programm. It is a virus-cleaner, not more.

Koasati

on Mar 03, 2006

I have heard of one thats so far seems to be perfect so far NOD32, I have never tried the program but I have heard nothing but great reviews.

I have been very pleased with NOD32.

Katrinakat

on Mar 03, 2006

I use AVG exclusively but I also use an assortment of other AV software

This sentence doesn't seem to jive with my definition of "exclusively"!

cal0140

on Mar 03, 2006

yes but it's foolish to only rely on one program's definitions. granted, you never want more than one AV program running at a time, with an infected system you must rely on multiple tools. no one program gets them all.

c242

on Mar 03, 2006

That is the reason I use G-Data AVK. It has Kapersky and Bitdefender built in.

Double Zero

on Mar 03, 2006

This sentence doesn't seem to jive with my definition of "exclusively"!

Well allow me to "enlighten" you as to what I meant since your having an issue understanding..

I have AVG running on my PC %100 of the time...
If & when I feel a need to check AVG's effectiveness I pop in my UBCD4 cd and run AV software from it..Trend Micro, Avast, Stinger..etc..etc..

I do not run these "other" AV programs "Exclusively" only when I feel the "need" to do so...

Was that any less complicated to understand?

Katrinakat

on Mar 03, 2006

Sorry. Didn't mean to make an issue. I'm a teacher and find myself picking up on interesting word choices. That was just my red pencil reaction!

Double Zero

on Mar 03, 2006

I'm a teacher and find myself picking up on interesting word choices.

Well I hope you'll reconsider my grade.."Failing" isnt one of my favorite things to do.

MasonM

on Mar 03, 2006

ex·clu·sive

1. Excluding or tending to exclude
2. Not allowing something else; incompatible
3. Not divided or shared with others
4. Not accompanied by others

Adamness

on Mar 03, 2006

Semantics battle?

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